Aylens in Essex

[ajtj01]

Re Robert Aylen (Aylow/Aylin) born around 1815 possibly in Grays End. There was a family of Aylens including a Robert Aylen in the North End area around 1780. The linking factor is they were all brickmakers or bricklayers. Later generations can be traced following the 19th century building rush through NE London and on the the SE and end around the Beckenham area.

Can anyone link Robert (1815) to the Aylens of North End or possibly Ashen

[horse000]

Hi

Source, Free BMD:
Q1 1838, Robert Ayling* & Lucy Saunders, Orsett, mar. V 12, P 217.

Source, 1851 census, HO107/1468/615/56:
Robert Aylen 36, described as a Brickmaker, b. 1815 North End, Essex.
Lucy 40, Laundry (possibly), b. 1811 Chelmsford, Essex.
John 10
Robert 10
Thomas 5

* Another name variant if this is the right one.

Hope this is of some help.

Regards
Geoff

[ajtj01]

Thanks

We think Aylen and Ayling are the same name at this point in time, they would have been transcribed from verbal instructions and given that all the Aylens and Saunders were illiterate at this time they could not have checked.

We have now traced another Aylin who was sentenced for horse theft at Chelmsford Courts  sometime earlier, so the Aylens were in the area well before 1838 so we are still looking for probably a Thomas Aylen born around 1805 in the Chelmsford area.

[Nicola_E]

Hi,

What information do you already have on your Robert? (so that we can identify the correct person).

Best wishes

[ajtj01]

Thanks for the help, Robert is proving elusive to tie down.

We know this Robert Aylen, born around 1815 in Essex probably at Grays End or North End, he died in 1873 in Kensington. He is recorded as marrying Lucy Saunders (b1809) 26th March 1838 at St Peter and Paul Grays Thurrock. Lucy had two children at the time of the marriage but is recorded as spinster on the marriage certificate. She may have been a laundress.  The names on the marriage certificate are recorded as Ayling for both Roberts father and the witnesses, all were illiterate and so would not be able to tell the difference. They are recorded as Aylen on the later census data.

The Aylen family were brick workers some were layers and some were makers, they can be traced from the mid 19th century following the building boom, they end up in the Beckenham area of Kent although there is a solid link to the group in Portsmouth.

Roberts father Thomas, probably born around 1790 and in the Essex area, possibly in the triangle NW of Chelmsford. Many people have linked Aylen and the Sussex Ayling family but we feel that since there was already a population of Aylens in the area both Robert and Thomas come from this and not from the Sussex area.

We have also found a Robert Aylin who was sentenced for horse theft around 1805 which shows the presence of the name pre 1800.

[Nicola_E]

Hi,

Can I just check, do you have birth certificates of Robert & Lucy's children confirming Saunders as the maiden name?  ie are you certain you have the correct marriage?

Also, have you found the family in the 1841 cenusus?

Nicola

[ajtj01]

Hi

We do not have the birth certs for the children but have seen the records, at the point of marriage they are recorded as Saunders, however, the death cert for the girl, who died young records the name as Aylen.

We have tracked back to Robert through living records and so are certain we have the right Robert and marriage.

We are also fairly certain we have found the family in the 1841 census but not all the children,but given that they may well have been part of a traveling population this is not unexpected.

[Nicola_E]

The Kelvedon (there is a John and Eliza from Kelvedon with Thomas as father) and Stock (there is a brickmaker called John from Stock) families looked promising but I have not found a Robert of the correct age.

Family search has a Thomas Allin marriage in Halstead 1798.

Sorry not to find any answers, if I spot any Thomas Aylen marriages I will let you know.

[suffolk*sue]

Possible baptism at Ridgewell.

Robert Alen
May 22nd, 1814
son of Joseph and Elizabeth
father a blacksmith

maybe not, wrong fathers name.